La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet (Review)

With unprecedented access, documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman artfully captures the inner workings of one of the world’s greatest ballet companies and principal cultural institutions in France, the Paris Opera Ballet.

THIS will certainly appeal to ballet aficionados, but you don’t need a background in dance to catch documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman’s piercing gaze into one of the world’s greatest ballet companies.

In La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet, Wiseman takes an unobtrusive approach to his subject matter. There are neither interviews nor introductions – it’s a quintessential trait of Wiseman’s style.

He captures everything from behind the stage to when the curtains open: the daily rehearsals, the orchestra pit, lighting checks, the meticulous tailoring of costumes, makeup artists and hairdressers, the administration – even the workings of the cafeteria.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOzkWakRLmE[/youtube]

Wiseman’s other observations – the sweat stains on the clothes of the dancers as they seek to perfect their moves, fatigued dancers stretching and lying limp on the floor – also tell an oft-neglected story.

The art of ballet and the magic that we witness on stage is a culmination of a long and painstaking process. It reminds us of the transient nature of such an art, beautiful movements that are over as quickly as they are executed.

The Paris Opera building itself also provides a sub-text to Wiseman’s narrative.

Generations of dancers have passed through the institution since it was constructed in 1862, and Wiseman contrasts the company’s enduring tradition with the short, if not, evanescent lifespan of a dancer’s career. Dancers retire at 40, bodies beaten by the rigueur of this fine art form.

But all in all, Wiseman has restrained himself from dramatising the hardships endures by its dancers, and La Danse is an honest observation of the inner workings of the Paris Opera Ballet.

The lack of a discernible plot made the nearly three-hour long documentary feel like a stretch at times, but it was still an absorbing watch nonetheless.

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Meld Magazine was incorporated as an independent not-for-profit media outlet in September 2008 to reach out to international students in Melbourne, and provide students the opportunity to gain real work experience.

Many international students live in or around the city because of the proximity to their colleges and universities, and that was where we decided to focus our efforts first. Many of us live, work and study locally too. Our editorial team is made of both local and international students, and it has worked to our advantage in providing local content in every sense of the word.